To defend themselves in a suit over a fatal boat explosion at the Erie Yacht Club on Memorial Day 2011, the owners of the boat countersued the person who sold them the 32-foot 1987 Wellcraft St. Tropez.

That strategy has failed in Erie County Court.

The boat's previous owner, James P. Cummings, a former Erie resident who now lives in Florida, has been dismissed from the suit.

Judge William R. Cunningham ruled that the owners of the boat -- local physical therapists Aaron Hertel, 35, and Michael Brown, 37 -- failed to present enough evidence to support claims that Cummings was at fault when they bought the boat from him in "as-is" condition five days before the blast.

Hertel and Brown claimed that if anyone was negligent in failing to replace any worn equipment on the boat, it was Cummings, who had owned the boat for 15 years before selling it. Cummings objected to the claims and sought dismissal of the case against him.

Cunningham on Oct. 17 gave Hertel and Brown a month to revise their initial countersuit, filed in April, to add more information regarding their negligence claims against Cummings, 57.

Hertel and Brown never filed an amended complaint. Cummings' lawyer, Tibor Solymosi, on Wednesday won a judgment that dropped Cummings from the case, which originated when the husband of the woman who died in the explosion, 25-year-old Erin Carlisle, sued Hertel and Brown in September 2012.

"There are not enough material facts alleged by Hertel and Brown to establish the elements of a negligence claim against Cummings," Cunningham wrote in a 17-page decision on Oct. 17. "Hertel and Brown use conclusory terms instead of facts."

Cunningham said he recognized that the countersuit was in its early stages, and that the lawyers for Hertel and Brown had yet to finish the evidence-gathering process known as discovery. But he said a dismissal would be proper if Hertel and Brown failed to come up with new information in 30 days.

"It may be that Hertel and Brown are hoping to learn through the discovery process the defect which they can attribute to Cummings," Cunningham wrote. "If so, it is unfair to Cummings to continue to defend this case while Hertel and Brown are searching for that defect."

The original suit, whose lead plaintiff is Ryan Carlisle, 28, is continuing, as is what is left of the countersuit.

Carlisle sued Hertel, Brown and the Erie Yacht Club. Hertel and Brown countersued Cummings; James Byham, a boat mechanic at his Bayshore Marine Services, who worked on the boat before the sale, according to the countersuit; and Charles J. Miller, a boat surveyor at his North Coast Marine Services, who Hertel and Brown claim inspected the boat before they bought it, on May 25, 2011.

Carlisle, who suffered third-degree burns in the blast, is claiming Hertel improperly refueled the boat at the Erie Yacht Club and then tried to restart it, despite a strong odor of gasoline, and that the explosion resulted. Carlisle is claiming Brown also tried to restart the boat, contributing to the accident, and that the Erie Yacht Club failed to properly monitor the refueling.

Hertel, Brown, the Carlisles and Hertel's then-2-year-old son were on board when the boat, named Jimmy Time, exploded. Hertel, his son, Brown and Rachael Palkovic, a seasonal employee at the yacht club, were injured. Palkovic sued Hertel and Brown in April.

Hertel and Brown are denying they were at fault, and the other defendants in the suit and countersuit are denying fault and are expected to seek dismissals as well. Cunningham will have to rule on a number of pretrial issues before deciding whether the cases go to trial.

In ruling in favor of Cummings, Cunningham wrote that "there is nothing alleged within the complaint against Cummings identifying any defect that Cummings failed to maintain, identify repair or disclose."

"Hertel and Brown," he wrote, "are seeking to impose a duty that was not bargained for within their contractual relationship with Cummings and is sought only after a tragedy."

ED PALATTELLA can be reached at 870-1813 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNpalattella.